Palestine's Islamist group Hamas took a serious blow to its leadership today after a series of Israeli military air strikes killed Ahmed al-Jabari, the commander of Hamas' military wing. The military operation in Gaza was largely launched in response to the recent wave of rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled region that targeted Israeli territories and as a result, "a significant number of long-range rocket sites" have been destroyed, according to the Israel Defense Force officials. In reacting to the news, Hamas released a statement denouncing the air strikes as the basis for its "declaration of war" against Israel and further warned that "the Israeli occupation will regret and pay a high price."

UPDATED (1:45PM PT): IDF released the raw footage of the air strike via YouTube.